22/52 - when mother bird flies the nest

Lily

Mostly camera pics for this post, as I actually spent most of the week interstate!

So, here is a quick snap of Lily, all dressed up in American-colours (in honour of her American Vice Principal who is retiring) for her school Walkathon. She had fun picking out this concoction of red,white and blue and was determined to walk as many laps as possible! 

Unfortunately for her poor parents who generously decided to sponsor her per lap, she walked over double what we thought she would do!!!!!!! 

(Nine laps of the very large oval!)

Eli

I could only smile when Mark texted me this pic while I was away. It just perfectly encapsulates Eli, with that sunny, squinty smile. And randomly perched on top of the garden clippings bin, haha!

Oh, I did miss the kiddos so much. A surprising amount... I teared up quite a few times when chatting with them on the phone. Three nights (four full days) felt like a very long time to be away from my little tribe. Then again, it's kinda good to get the opportunity to miss them, if you know what I mean! ;) 

Miles

My poor baby got sick with a cold/cough while I was away. 

You can imagine how I felt when Mark texted me a pic of him lying all sad and sniffly in his cot. Broke my heart!!

Such a little darling. 

Mark

My country boy!

Finishing up an afternoon of clearing out the chicken coop and clipping the chicken's wings - well, actually I did the clipping 'cos I am the real country girl, haha, but he did wrangle them very well ;)

I missed this fella an awful lot while I was gone. Bunches. But how nice it was to know the kids were well taken care of while I was gone. They had a fantastic time. Mark had everything totally in hand - household running smoothly and even extra fun activities, dinners and special outings- not to mention looking after Miles who was sick too. Yup, he is the best brand of Husband/Dad you can get - top shelf! ;)

Best of all was how he supported and encouraged me to go. Now, that's love!

Thanks, darling xx

Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.

More highlights from the week that was...


The reason for my absence was I was zipping down to Melbourne to meet my newest niece! It was a great opportunity to help and support my little sister and her clan as they adjust to life with 'two under two'. I loved being able to spend some real quality time with them all. Really precious moments and memories, which due to life and distance are pretty far and few between these days.

I flew in super early in the morning and met up with one of my dearest friends, Caroline.
We had a brief but amazing morning, as she showed me the true Melbourne experience.
A divine Brekkie at Hardware Societe cafe, then shopping at H&M. Perfection!

My lovely little sister, Anne.. doing an amazing job mothering 'two under two'!

Anne snapped this pic of me reading to Alaia. She is such a little bookworm!!! Loved reading with her. My heart melted when within minutes of arriving she was laying all over me with a book in hand, asking me to read to her!
Auntie/Niece bonding time :)

My adorable nieces!! Alaia (22m) and Frankie (8wks)

Love this shot Mark took after a Lego session with Eli :)

Lily told me she was making a special dessert for the chickens. No doubt they loved it, just look at all that vibrant deliciousness :)

Miles had his first try of kale chips. Hard to do as they get gobbled up so fast by the rest of the family. The look of wonder and pleasure on his face when he crunched into them and discovered how they evaporate was so adorable. He was slamming them all in in record time, with only crunchy little flakes around his mouth to tell the tale. Yup, definitely one of our clan ;)

a quiet Saturday morning play dough  session.

A few Autumn/landscape shots from a couple weeks ago.  I ventured out with my dear friends Rosie and Graham for
a little photography excursion around the lake. We are all newbies with the DSLR so it was fun to experiment 
together... although my inspiration was pretty low. I'm really not used to shooting landscape and
nature type shots. The upside is that they just stay there and don't do anything. But the downside is they just stay
there and don't do anything!!! Hence, more creativity is required which I was kinda lacking that day. Oh well, good to
try new things!?

Sticks in water, and a feather drifting by...